This invention teaches a system and method for the secure communication of electronic documents. More particularly, this invention is directed to a system and method for enabling secure data communication of a user's electronic documents without the user's intervention.
Document processing devices are routinely used in a network environment to generate or propagate electronic documents. One issue facing such environments is that the electronic document is able to be sniffed or intercepted by hackers or other unauthorized users. This is even more of an issue in those environments which allow wireless communication with the document processing devices. There is a need for a data security mechanism to deter or prevent unauthorized access to such electronic documents. Document transmission is suitably in conjunction with document forwarding, document storage, or document processing operations, such as printing, facsimile transmission, scanning, and the like.
Typically an encryption/decryption mechanism is used wherein a key is generated by a standard algorithm and the key is then used to encrypt and decrypt the electronic document. One problem with such encryption/decryption mechanisms is that the security of the encrypted document depends on the security level of the key. The algorithms used to generate the key are generally standard or well known and anyone skilled in the art could use the algorithms to decrypt the data is such person is able to determine the key.
Another problem with standard encryption/decryption mechanisms is that the exchange of the key between the encryption device and the decryption typically requires two-way communication between the devices. For example, SSL requires bi-directional communication and RSA public key methods require prior key distribution. It would be advantageous to have an encryption/decryption mechanism which only required unidirectional communication. One such option is to use a fix hard coded key that is used by the client device or use and the document processing device. However, there is minimal security in such a method as the key is easily determined by trial and error or by reverse engineering.
There is a need for a system and method for encryption/decryption of electronic documents which overcomes the aforementioned problems and enables secure communication of electronic documents easily and without user intervention.